The Planning Playbook - Digital download
Could this £29.99 assessment save you more than £5,000?
A Planning Application involves far more than the application fee.
Before reaching a decision, you may need to pay for architectural drawings, surveys, specialist consultants, engineering advice and supporting reports. These costs can easily exceed £5,000—and none of them guarantees that Planning Permission will be granted.
Buying land without properly understanding its planning potential can be considerably more expensive.
The Planning Playbook helps you identify potential problems before you commit substantial time and money to a site that may never be suitable for development.
For £29.99, it is a small check before a potentially very large financial decision.
Who is the Planning Playbook for?
The Playbook is designed for:
- Landowners wondering whether their land could accommodate a home
- Prospective purchasers considering buying a plot
- Self-builders searching for the right site
- Small-scale developers assessing a potential opportunity
- Property investors carrying out early due diligence
- Families considering building within a garden or on existing land
- Anyone who wants to understand a site’s planning potential before paying for a full professional application
It is most useful during the early stages—before buying land, commissioning drawings or progressing a full planning application.
What will the Playbook help you discover?
As you work through the Playbook, you will assess your site against 99 planning and practical data points.
These cover matters including:
- Planning policy and the site’s location
- Settlement boundaries and rural development
- Access, parking and road visibility
- Flood risk and drainage
- Water, electricity and other services
- Landscape and environmental designations
- Listed buildings and conservation areas
- Neighbouring properties and residential amenity
- Site layout and practical buildability
- Potential constraints requiring further investigation
The Playbook will help you:
- Generate your own Likelihood of Planning Approval score
- Identify potential planning red flags
- Understand where your site appears stronger or weaker
- Recognise issues that may require specialist advice
- Compare the potential of different sites
- Decide whether the land is worth pursuing
- Approach an architect or planning consultant better informed
- Reduce the risk of spending thousands on an unsuitable site
Your score calculates automatically
This is not simply a book for you to read.
As you progress through the Playbook, you will answer questions and select the tick boxes that apply to your site. Each response contributes to the live assessment.
By the time you reach the final page, the Playbook will have automatically calculated your personalised Likelihood of Planning Approval score, expressed as a clear percentage.
You will be able to see whether the site appears to have stronger Planning potential, requires further investigation or presents significant risks that should be considered before proceeding.
Sample pages and Planning score from The Planning Playbook
Purchase The Planning Playbook
Frequently asked questions
How long will it take?
Allow approximately 45–60 minutes for an initial assessment.
You may need longer if you choose to investigate local Planning policies, maps or site constraints as you work through the questions.
It will help to have the following available:
- The site address or location
- A Google Maps or satellite view
- The approximate site boundaries
- Any available sales particulars or title information
- Details of existing access and nearby services
- Your local authority’s Local Development Plan or online planning map
You do not need to be a Planning professional. The Playbook explains what to consider and guides you through the assessment step by step.
Why not just Google it?
Planning information is spread across Local Development Plans, online mapping systems, national policy, Council guidance and numerous technical documents.
The difficult part is not simply finding information. It is knowing:
- What to search for
- Which issues are relevant
- What could materially affect an application
- Which apparent problems may be manageable
- What should be investigated before money is spent
The Playbook brings 99 carefully selected Planning and practical considerations into one structured assessment.
It has been developed from the professional experience of an architect regularly assessing sites and progressing residential projects through the planning system.
Instead of spending days trying to work out what matters, you can follow a clear process, record your answers and receive an immediate percentage-based result.
What the Planning Playbook is, and what it is not
The Playbook is an early-stage assessment tool designed to help you understand risk and make a better-informed decision.
It is not:
- Planning Permission
- A formal pre-application response
- Site-specific architectural or planning advice
- A guarantee that permission will be granted
- A replacement for professional advice where complex constraints are identified
Your score provides an indicative assessment based on the information you enter. The final decision on any planning application rests with the relevant Planning Authority.
The purpose of the Playbook is to help you decide whether progressing to that stage appears worthwhile.
What happens when you purchase?
- Pay securely online
- Receive immediate access to the interactive Planning Playbook
- Download and open the document
- Follow the guidance and complete the assessment
- View your automatically calculated percentage score on the final page
You can then use your findings to investigate specific concerns, compare sites or decide whether to seek professional advice and progress a Planning Application.
What could finding one serious issue be worth?
Discovering a major constraint after purchasing land or commissioning a full design team could cost thousands of pounds.
Discovering it through a £49.99 assessment could help you avoid that mistake—or allow you to obtain the right advice before proceeding.
Before you invest in the site, invest in understanding it.
Does the Playbook guarantee Planning Permission?
No. Only the relevant Planning Authority can determine a Planning Application. The Playbook provides an early, indicative assessment to help you understand the site’s apparent strengths, risks and areas requiring further investigation.
Do I need Planning knowledge to use it?
No. The Playbook has been structured to guide landowners, buyers and self-builders through the relevant considerations in plain English.
Can I use it before buying land?
Yes. This is one of its most valuable uses. It can help you carry out an initial assessment before committing to a site purchase, although it does not replace professional due diligence or legal advice.
Can I use it for land I already own?
Yes. It can help you understand whether the land appears worth progressing and identify matters to investigate before commissioning a full Planning Application.
Will it tell me why my score is lower?
Your answers will help reveal the areas in which the site appears stronger or weaker, allowing you to identify possible red flags and matters requiring further investigation.
How quickly will I receive it?
Access is provided digitally following purchase, so you can begin assessing your site straight away.
Can I complete it more than once?
You are free to use the Playbook for as many sites as you like; just remember to email us the completed form each time if you would like our review as the book won’t remember your previous entries.
Help us improve the Planning Playbook
After completing your assessment, we would be grateful if you could share your feedback. Your experience will help us make future editions even clearer and more useful for other landowners and self-builders.